"If they had said my writing wasn't good enough, fair enough, that's an opinion. But to say it's too complex is to insult the intelligence of the so-called young"
About this Quote
A door slammed in Tanith Lee's face, and she had the audacity to be offended for the reader instead of herself. The line pivots on a neat distinction: "not good enough" is taste, the ordinary bruising of criticism; "too complex" is paternalism dressed up as market logic. Lee isn't defending difficulty as a badge of honor so much as rejecting the idea that young people need their literature pre-chewed. The real target is an industry reflex: protect the demographic, simplify the product, lower the risk.
"Insult the intelligence" is doing double work. It's a rebuke to gatekeepers who treat complexity like a contaminant, and it's a rallying cry that reassigns dignity to the audience labeled "young". Her use of "so-called" is acid. It suggests "young" isn't a meaningful description of capacity, just a convenient category used to justify control. Youth becomes a corporate fiction: a reader defined less by curiosity than by what can be safely sold to them.
There's also a sly, writerly confidence here. Lee implies complexity isn't an indulgence; it's the point of art that takes readers seriously. The quote carries the context of genre publishing, where fantasy and science fiction have often been policed for readability, age brackets, and "accessibility" as if imagination must be rationed. She exposes the hidden insult inside the compliment of concern: we made it simpler for you. No, she suggests, you made it simpler for yourselves.
"Insult the intelligence" is doing double work. It's a rebuke to gatekeepers who treat complexity like a contaminant, and it's a rallying cry that reassigns dignity to the audience labeled "young". Her use of "so-called" is acid. It suggests "young" isn't a meaningful description of capacity, just a convenient category used to justify control. Youth becomes a corporate fiction: a reader defined less by curiosity than by what can be safely sold to them.
There's also a sly, writerly confidence here. Lee implies complexity isn't an indulgence; it's the point of art that takes readers seriously. The quote carries the context of genre publishing, where fantasy and science fiction have often been policed for readability, age brackets, and "accessibility" as if imagination must be rationed. She exposes the hidden insult inside the compliment of concern: we made it simpler for you. No, she suggests, you made it simpler for yourselves.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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